Night Heron: This was a rare chance to kill two birds with one stone today as I had to pick up a new Clulite (used in my GCN survyes) from a countryside shop in Telford which also give the chance to catch up with the adult Night Heron.
This is presumed to be the same adult bird that was seen at Venus Pools, a reserve about seven miles south of Shrewsbury, however it didn't show quite as well at Venus Pools.
As soon as I arrived the bird was just sitting in a tree on the ornimental pond in part of the local park called The Quarry. The bird wasn't phased by the growing crowd of birders, dog walkers and on-lookers who were passing.
After a two hour wait the bird became more active and started to take an interest in the pond, before bobbing its head at the water and walking out further on to the branch, it flew off it's perch and down on to the water.
There is some suggestion that the bird is an escaped individual due to it having a mark on its leg - take a look at this image.
Here is the flight shot!
The bird flew right down to our feet and started feeding, it must have been about one metre away on the pond edge.
The crowd of birders grouped together in a hushed huddle as we watched it walk right past us then out of sight. The bird was then best viewed from the opposite side of the pond where is was standing under some shrubs.
